Daily Times

The prevailing chaos in Afghanistan that resulted from the US forces’ withdrawal, disclosure of Indian propaganda against Pakistan and the errs committed by the US in the past 20 years of War on Terror are all proofs of the genius of Pakistan’s military leadership. For, they continued to give crucial input/suggestions to American political and military leadership on how to strategise their fight in Afghanistan instead of indulging in blame games. Ergo, it was not betrayal by Pakistan, but faulty US policies in Afghanistan that led to troubles and reversals of NATO forces. Another major reason behind these failures was the Indian nexus that centred on RAW and ts proxies to destabilise Afghanistan and create anarchy in an already worn-torn country.

We can broadly analyse three relevant factors here: the US invasion of Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11 and its subsequent policies adopted during the prolonged war; Pakistani military commander’s genius in fighting a two-fronted war despite all constraints and propaganda unleashed by India and western media against Pakistan through the metaphor of “good Taliban and bad Taliban.”

The American-led global war against terrorism was backed by the US congress, the UN Security Council as well as NATO. As days passed, after America attacked Afghanistan, the situation kept worsening. And with the prolonging war, its mistakes continued. Neither did the political leadership in Washington have any clear strategic objective nor did the military commanders understand ground realities. Twice in the year 2003 and then again in 2014, the US announced to end its war in Afghanistan, but shockingly, it could only leave Kabul in 2021. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and then went for Iraq in 2003. Fighting two wars simultaneously was next-to-impossible for the US.

Craig Whitlock interviewed many from the allied forces as well as the US military for his book, “The Afghanistan Papers; a secret history of the war.” He wrote that war in Afghanistan was nothing, but an accumulation of misjudgments and miscalculations by US political and military commanders.

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and then went for Iraq in 2003. Fighting two wars simultaneously was next-to-impossible.

Vali Nasr, now Professor at John Hopkins University, in his book, “The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat” said that he had based his writing on the advice of Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to the US to negotiate the exit with Taliban. The book mentioned that General Kayani told American officials during a visit to Washington in 2010 that they would be “better off” negotiating an exit from Afghanistan with the Taliban, instead of trying to build up Afghan forces to 400,000 by 2014.

The official said that “the general was sure the Afghan army would eventually collapse.”

Recalling General Kayani’s firm response at one small meeting around a narrow table, he wrote, “I cannot forget Kayani’s reaction when we enthusiastically explained our plan to build up Afghan forces to 400,000 by 2014. His answer was swift and unequivocal: Don’t do it. ‘You will fail,'” he said.

“Then you will leave and that half-trained army will break into militias that will be a problem for Pakistan,” We tried to stand our ground, but he would have none of it. He continued, “I don’t believe that the Congress is going to pay $9 billion a year for this 400,000-man force.”

“He was sure it would eventually collapse and the army’s broken pieces would resort to crime and terrorism to earn their keep,” the official wrote.

“Kayani’s counsel was that if you want to leave, just leave-we didn’t believe you were going to stay anyway-but don’t do any more damage on your way out. This seemed to be a ubiquitous sentiment across the region. No one bought our argument for sending more troops into Afghanistan, and no one was buying our arguments for leaving. It seemed everyone was getting used to a directionless America.”

Pakistan Army had strategised its war against terrorism on this side of the porous Pak-Afghan border. Though Pakistan Army was trained to fight a conventional war, it never hesitated to learn and fight the low-intensity conflict. We were the only army in the world, which was fighting enemies on two fronts: the eastern border with India and the western border against terrorists. Pakistan Army fought the war against terrorism befittingly and sacrificed more than any country in the world.

Introducing a new training module to fight low-intensity conflict, merging FATA with Pakistan, developing areas close to Pak-Afghan border, National Action Plan to eliminate extremism and terrorism, fencing 2400-kilometres-long Pak-Afghan border, taking terrorists head-on in their hideouts and sleeper cells speaks volumes about Pakistan Army’s professionalism. Continuing the fight against terrorism with a deliberated strategy was the main success of the Pakistan Army. Known for his brilliance, General Kayani launched the Swat operation in the first half of 2009 and cleansed the region of terrorists. Gradually, operations were extended successfully to Bajur, Khyber, Mohmand, South Waziristan and North Waziristan. General Raheel launched Zarb-e-Azb. General Qamar Javed Bajwa continued with efforts of the Pakistan Army to eliminate terrorists and extremists, launched Radd-ul-Fasaad and carried out a surge against terrorists through intelligence-based operations. Pakistan is the only country that has emerged victorious in the two-decades-long war due to the brilliance, commitment and foresightedness of its military leadership. Pakistan was never committed to the blame game but was only concentrating to fight terrorists and their sympathisers. Today, Pakistan stands tall in the comity of nations for its just stand and whole-hearted fight against terrorism.

When Pakistan was fighting as a frontline partner with the US in the fight against terrorism, India was playing a double game all along to destabilise Pakistan through terrorist acts inside Pakistan to engage Pakistan on the line of control. This would divert the attention of Pakistani security forces from the war against terrorism while India continued to wage propaganda against Pakistan in global media. The recent disclosure of Indian Chronicles by EUDisInfoLab is a testimony to Indian nefarious designs to destabilise the region and promote terrorism. Indian Chronicle is a 15-year influence operation, which was led by the Srivastava Group. The propaganda operation began in 2005 and is still ongoing.

The purpose of this Indian propaganda team was to damage the image of Pakistan, particularly its security and intelligence institutions. Indian Chronicle is a testimony to the dossier that Pakistan had given to the UN in 2020 about the Indian hybrid war. For the last 15 years, India is spreading fake news through a multi-layered network of 750 fake websites and media houses in 116 countries.

Indian did not rely on propaganda only but played with the US on the ground as well in Afghanistan. When the US was engaged in talks with the Taliban, India was supporting the northern alliance to disrupt talks, which failed. Today, India stands defeated in Afghanistan and is exposed for its propaganda campaign and promotion of fake news in the world.

The writer holds a PhD from QAU in International Relations and can be reached at email atiquesheikh2000@gmail.com.